The River of Life by Thomas Campbell The more we live, more brief appear Our life’s succeeding stages; A day to childhood seems a year, And years like passing ages. The gladsome current of our youth, Ere passion yet disorders,…
Tag: poem analysis
The Ruin
The Ruin by Matthew Hollis Rare is this wrought-work, pulled down by design; civilities collapse: even giants must die. The roofs unroofed, the towers are down, their beams unburdened and frost-locked. All that was raised has fallen, all in time…
The Runaway
The Runaway by Robert Frost Once when the snow of the year was beginning to fall, We stopped by a mountain pasture to say, ‘Whose colt?’ A little Morgan had one forefoot on the wall, The other curled at his…
Betting on the Muse
Betting on the Muse by Glenn Cole Russell Jimmy Foxx died an alcoholic in a skidrow hotel room. Beau Jack ending up shining shoes, just where he began. there are dozens, hundreds, more, maybe thousands more. being an athlete grown…
Leda and the Swan
Leda and the Swan by William Butler Yeats A sudden blow: the great wings beating still Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his…
Litany
Litany By Billy Collins You are the bread and the knife, The crystal goblet and the wine… -Jacques Crickillon You are the bread and the knife, the crystal goblet and the wine. You are the dew on the morning grass…
From the Bridge: To Brooklyn Bridge
From the Bridge: To Brooklyn Bridge By Hart Crane How many dawns, chill from his rippling rest The seagull’s wings shall dip and pivot him, Shedding white rings of tumult, building high Over the chained bay waters Liberty— Then, with…
The Butterfly
The Butterfly By Pavel Friedmann The last, the very last, So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow. Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing against a white stone… Such, such a yellow Is carried lightly ‘way up high. It went away I’m…
The Beggars
The Beggars By Rainer Maria Rilke You didn’t know what was in the heap. A visitor found it to contain beggars. They sell the hollow of their hands. They show the sightseer their mouths full of filth, and let him…
The Albuquerque Graveyard
The Albuquerque Graveyard By Jay Wright It would be easier to bury our dead at the corner lot. No need to wake Before sunrise, take three buses, walk two blocks, search at the rear of the cemetery, to come upon…
Sonrisas
Sonrisas By Pat Mora I live in a doorway between two rooms. I hear quiet clicks, cups of black coffee, click, click like facts budgets, tenure, curriculum, from careful women in crisp beige suits, quick beige smiles that seldom sneak…
Sometimes When it Rains
Sometimes When it Rains By Gcina Mhlophe Sometimes when it rains I smile to myself And think of times when as a child I’d sit by myself And wonder why people need clothes Sometimes when it rains I think of…
Some Kiss We Want
Some Kiss We Want By Jalal ad-Din Mohammad Rumi Translated by Coleman Barks There is some kiss we want with our whole lives a touch of Spirit on the body Seawater begs the pearl to break its shell. And the…
Snow
Snow By Louis MacNeice The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was Spawning snow and pink roses against it Soundlessly collateral and incompatible: World is suddener than we fancy it. World is crazier and more of it than…
The Sound of Silence
The Sound of Silence By Paul Simon Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain,…
Talking In Bed
Talking In Bed By Philip Larkin Talking in bed ought to be easiest, Lying together there goes back so far, An emblem of two people being honest. Yet more and more time passes silently. Outside, the wind’s incomplete unrest Builds…
Still Here
Still Here By Langston Hughes I been scarred and battered. My hopes the wind done scattered. Snow has friz me, Sun has baked me, Looks like between ‘em they done Tried to make me Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’–…
Smart
Smart By Shel Silverstein My dad gave me one dollar bill ‘Cause I’m his smartest son, And I swapped it for two shiny quarters ‘Cause two is more then one! And then I took the quarters And traded them to…
she being Brand
she being Brand By E. E. Cummings she being Brand -new;and you know consequently a little stiff i was careful of her and(having thoroughly oiled the universal joint tested my gas felt of her radiator made sure her springs were…
Love, a child, is ever crying
Love, a child, is ever crying By Lady Mary Wroth LOVE, a child, is ever crying; Please him, and he straight is flying; Give him, he the more is craving, Never satisfied with having. His desires have no measure; Endless…